Warning 1st-kite Brussels

Hello,

i am sorry i have to write this in english since i´m from germany. i just registered here to give a warning to other kiters not to do business with www.1st-kite.com in Brussels, the owner is Arnaud de Laat. i posted this already over at foilzone and was given a few links from other forums where people might be interested in the way this guy is doing business.

in September 2009 i responded to an ad in the classifieds on foilzone from the user VinzBE. he was
offering a Psycho4 15m. as it turned out the kite was sold by 1st-kite. it was described to me as "10 times out of the bag, kite is like new". so i bought it for 800,- €.when it arrived in Germany i saw that the Psycho4 had severe abrasions from sand all over the kite. many parts where it was dragged over the sand and the cloth is damaged, but also tiny spots from sand damage all over. and the depower rope was down to the inner core in several areas (there was a new depower rope, but this shows that the kite was used a lot more than i was told....though i know that the rope on the Infinity bar wears pretty fast, but not after 10 x of usage ?!?)

so i tried to reach the kiteshop, but it was impossible to contact them by e-mail or phone. finally i sent the kite back. after not hearing anything from them and countless efforts to mail or phone, i found out that the whole shop was in Brasil until November. Then i could talk to a guy who was in the shop only on Saturdays during that time. He told me that the kite had not arrived. But i got the written confirmation from my shipping company that it was delivered and accepted at a Flower Shop nearby. So the week after that i called again, the guy from the shop went to the Flowershop and told me that the kite was not there....the Saturday after that i called again and thank god the kite was at the shop now.
so the guy told me to wait until Arnaud was back from Brasil.

of course Arnaud did not contact me. again i spent days trying to call and writing emails (which are generally ignored).
finally i talked to Arnaud. he told me that it´s no problem, i will get my money back. i should just mail him all the details again and then it will be fine.
since then i wrote countless emails and talked a few more times to him on the phone (pure luck to reach him...). he always tells me he will check and call me back, but it never happens.
the foilzone user VinzBE went to the shop before Christmas and promised to talk to Arnaud. After that he told me that Arnaud does not deal with payments and paperstuff anymore and someone else is doing this, but sometime i might get my money....

since i know Armin from Flysurfer i told him about this case, because this shop is a Flysurfer dealer. He was very helpful and asked someone to talk to Arnaud, but he also cannot reach this guy.
i wrote to a couple lawyers in Brussels, but it seems 800,- € is not worth bothering for them.

the kite is back at this shop since October 20th 2009 and i am still waiting for my money. Always trying to call this guy, i have 3 phone numbers, but it´s not possible to talk to him.
so this guy thinks he can just keep my money and the kite. by the way, he offers this kite on his website again, described as "bon etat, +-15 uses".
maybe i would get my money when the Psycho4 is sold to someone else and with posting this i am destroying my last chance.
but i don´t know what to do anymore, this is so outrageous i think the kite community should know about Arnaud´s shop and school.

those 800,- € were the savings of almost one year and it means an unbelievable loss for me.

Thanks for posting, already saw your post on foilzone, very sad about what's happening to you, wish you the best to see your money coming back .

Donc en résumé, commande d'une P4 15.0 chez 1st kite bruxelles, voile livrée dans un état qui ne correspondait pas à ce que l'acheteur avait cru comprendre sur l'annonce, aprés plusieurs tentatives infructueuses d'appels, retour de la voile et là impossibilité de se faire rembourser .
Je passe sur les détails.

Arnaud, que je ne connais pas personnellement, il faut absolument régler le problème si tu lis ces lignes, les clients comme bluebyte sacrifient pas mal de choses pour se payer leur matos, c'est une énorme frustration d'en arriver là .

thank you tatahi. also for your french translation (i can read french...), i hope Arnaud reads this and finally takes action.

c'est pas la première fois qu ils font ce coup , ca m est arriver personnellement

c est une bande de ....

j avais déjà marquer une fois sur le forum mon avis sur ces personnes

bon courage et lâche pas l'affaire !!!!!!

c'est marrant , ça me rappelle une histoire que j'ai vécu avec ce même shop ... j'avais détaillé l'embrouille sur ce forum,pour ceux qui ont veulent un peu de lecture voici "le lien" du post qui détaille l'histoire ...


sinon je résume .... achat d'une planche neuve , la planche reçu n'est pas la bonne ...
grosse galere pour le remboursement , il m'a fallu pas mal de mail ,et de coup de tel dont le contenu n'a été que mensonges de leurs parts et pour finir menaces de la mienne ... un vrai plaisir .

je suis pas le seul à priori ...

je ne sais pas si cela s'appelle de l'escroquerie juridiquement parlant ? en tous cas ,venant de professionnel , pratiques et shop à dénoncer ...

this is horrible ! i can understand a bit french and i see that this shop has very criminal behavior and actions. until now i always hoped that somehow this could be solved but since i am far away in germany it makes it even easier for this fraudeur.

bluebyte, you should contact direct flysurfer benelux importer, info@flysurfer.nl, his name is Cor so that he could maybe help you.

from the beginning i know 1st kite, i heard lot of problem, but it's a real shop, with real people in, so you should be able to get back your money, 800€ is a lot and justice is on your side, don't hesitate to tell your lawyer in on the case (true or not ;-) ).
On my side i alerted the Flysurfer headquarters about your story, hope it helps.

let us know

Nico (french Fs importer)

Hello NicoFS,

thank you for your help ! i will write to the email you gave me of the benelux importer.

actually i informed Armin already about this before Christmas and he asked Ramon to contact 1st-kite. But he could not reach Arnaud either, not by telephone, voicemail or email. I keep trying to call the shop but i guess they might have blocked my phone number because i can never reach anyone. and if i could talk to Arnaud i am sure he would act really surprised like the last few times i talked to him. Saying "the money has been sent". then i say "no the money has not been sent", and then he says "i will check and call you back later", which of course never happens. so what can i do?

i will go to my nearest police station and inform them with all the papers and info i have. maybe there is a chance that in the EU they can act and inform the police in Belgium.

you are right, 800,- is a huge amount of money for me. i am a freelance artist and most of the time don´t have too much work, so this is the worst nightmare that could happen.

regina

Pour ma part j'ai fait deux achats et je n'ai pas eu de problèmes
Il me semble que Zano quand à lui a pris sa 15 chez lui et idem.....
J'ai contacté le shop pour qu'il redresse la barre....Attendons
Regina, 800€ c'est une grosse somme pour n'importe qui ....

For me too ... I had no problem with us when I bought my SA² hand ... but it is true that there are not very strong in communication ...

c'est cool pour vous et je veux bien croire qu'il ont un certain nombre, et même bcp de client satisfait ... sans quoi il ne serait plus la .

mais le simple fait d'en avoir une poignée avec lesquels il y a eu un souci qui manifestement n'est en rien du à la malchance ou au hasard , inciterons je l'espère les prochains à la méfiance ...

pour ma part , si j'avais pu lire un seul post du genre sur ce shop , je n'aurais pris aucun risque en passant une commande chez eux .

so just to finish this story, here is what happened.
there was no contact possible with Arnaud, not by phone and not by mail, even when he was supposed to be back.

so the foilzone user VinzBE did me a big favor and went personally to the shop to solve the problem. it was made very clear to him that Arnaud would not reimburse my money. he said that the 2 week rule for returning something only applies to new stuff, not used. i just wonder then why i have a 1 year guarantee written in my bill...and why he kept me waiting for months and told me personally on the telephone that it´s not a problem, i would get my money back.

so the only thing that could be achieved was that he would send the kite back to me. one day later i got a confirmation from Ups that the kite was shipped and i received it 2 days ago.

Flysurfer really tried to help a lot too and talked to Arnaud...they were told that the kite was returned by me in a much worse condition. but what would you expect from someone who does business like this...my weight is 65 kg and i ride in the buggy in very light winds, i cannot even kite on the water and sand and saltwater is very far away from where i live. so this accusation is just totally ridiculous.

anyway i am back to the beginning and i will have to try to sell the kite and hope to get some of my money back.

i can only warn every other kiter to do any kind of business with 1-st kite. especially when it comes to used stuff. it´s very easy to give a wrong description, sell something and then refuse any contact and just keep the money. if you cannot afford a good lawyer chances are you will never see your money again.
so i hope lots of people read this and make their own decision if they want to support a shop like this or not.

a big thank you again to VinzBE and Flysurfer for all your efforts !

Thank you Bluekite for your mail.
I try to do bisness with 1st kite but I feel the chief not clear with me.
So it's a good idea to write your story in this site. Information will be communicate to lot of people who want to buy something to Arnaud.
In France, we have systems for doing some action against shop who not respect terms of sale.
Contact police in your country and explain your problem, give yours mails you send to 1rst kite and try to have your money.
Sent one letter to the shop with accused receipt where you explain your action.
It's not possible for you not have your 800 euro again!!!!
Good luck for you and we hear advertissing you make.

Version pour les gaulois
Merci Bluekite,
J'ai essayé d'acheter au shop 1st kite mais je trouvais le patron pas très clair avec moi.
Aussi c'est une bonne idée d'écrire ton histoire sur ce site. L'information va etre communiqué à beaucoup de monde qui ont envie d'acheter quelque chose à Arnaud.
En France, il y des choses à faire contre les gens qui ne respectent pas les contrats de vente.
Contacte la police de ton pays et explique leur ton problème, donne tes mails que tu as envoyé à 1st kite et essaie de retrouver ton argent.
Envoie au magasin une lettre avec accusé de reception ou tu explique ce que tu vas faire.
Ce n'est pas envisageable que tu ne recupère pas tes 800 euros.
Bonne chance à toi et nous avons entendu les avertissements que tu as donné.

@furax

please do yourself a favor and don´t do business with Arnaud !

thanks for the advice, but now i have the kite back here with me already....

Cool, le post a eu un effet bénéfique

oui Bozzo, parce que j'ai du coup une P4 neuve qui déchire grave, et pas une rogne fourguée de force!
Si je m'étais fait couillonner comme Bluebyte, j'en connais un qui ne vendrait plus d'ailes de kite parce que je serais allé lui rendre une pitite visite, et j'aurrais renforcé mon surnom

Furax il était déjà comme ça à sa naissance

Ce 1st Kite reste un mystère, pour certains sympa et fiable et pour d'autres un enfer
Qui se cache derrière ce personnage, ange ou démon?

Le démon est partout , pourquoi pas chez 1st kite

Jamais tu nous changes ton avatar, cela nous écorche les yeux!?

Dac Bozzo, comme c'est demandé gentiment

Et bien voilà ...un petit dessin à l'aéro? de ta composition?

J'étais fan de Boris à une époque (81/82):

parfait cette photo parfait, chui fan

Furax, avant de t'emballer et d'avoir une nouvelle image, réponds à la question posée